Discontinuum
by Diva-esque
Summary: Yuuko may be the Witch of Dimensions, but she's not the Lady of Time. That title belongs to Sailor Pluto.


**Discontinuum**

_By aishuu_

An XXXholic/Sailor Moon crossover.

* * *

Although many people called Yuuko the Space-Time Witch, it was a misnomer. While she had power over dimensions, she wasn't foolish enough to mess with Time. That she left to the experts.

Just because she personally didn't work with Time, though, didn't mean her customers' Wishes didn't require it. Part of the reason she was so very good at her job was she knew how to barter. One such Wish had been delivered to her shop this morning. She had set a price – a very high one that involved the sacrifice of half the man's soul so his wife would be delayed in taking a bus ride that ended in a fatal accident – and now she had to deliver.

She ordered Watanuki to prepare lunch for two, before dismissing him on an assignment that would serve to further develop his relationship with Doumeki. She loved being able to multi task, she thought, as she waited in her parlor for her guest to arrive.

The interesting thing about Sailor Pluto was she never needed a formal invitation. She knew when her presence was desired. Yuuko considered herself fortunate that the senshi would actually deign to speak to her, instead of subtly altering the ways of the timestream to make the whole situation moot.

Yuuko tilted her head as her clock started to chime the noon hour. Raising her eyes, she noticed Pluto had entered the room. It was a testament to what kind of power she wielded, because none of the shop's wards had been set off. "Would you like some tea, Pluto-chan?"

A slight quirk of red lips was enough of an answer. The woman settled down at the low table, setting her garnet staff down at her right side.

Yuuko poured cups of tea for both of them, before raising the lids on the dumplings Watanuki had prepared. The whole meal was tremendously fattening, but it was something neither woman had to worry about. "It's been a while since we've been able to speak."

"That depends on how you look at it," was Pluto's pert reply. Most people would have missed the edge of irony in the green-haired woman's words, but Yuuko was a long-time acquaintance.

"Indeed. From my more linear perspective, it's been nearly two decades," Yuuko replied

"That you can remember." Pluto took a sip of her tea, before raising her chopsticks to select a morsel.

Yuuko tried not to twitch. She was used to dealing with immensely powerful people, but Pluto was one of the few who might - _just might_ - surpass her own levels. Somewhere along the way it had become a subtle game of oneupmanship as they tried to get under each other's skin.

"Perhaps. How's Endymion doing?" Yuuko asked in reply, a bit on the mean side. She wasn't without her resources as well.

Pluto didn't flinch. "Quite well. He and the princess are due to be married next year. I'm designing her wedding dress."

"Then Crystal Tokyo is on track," Yuuko said, rolling her eyes. She planned on shifting her shop over a couple of dimensions before the perfect utopia arrived. Right now things were fine, but she really didn't want to have to operate under the idyllic – and extremely naive – ideals that the Neo Queen would institute. Plus she really didn't want to have to live through the Great Freeze that would have to happen first.

"It's inexorable," Pluto replied, and Yuuko was only one of four people in the universe that would be able to detect a hint of smugness in the way Pluto's eyes were lit.

"Only because you choose to believe it so." Yuuko ate two of the dumplings in rapid succession, using the food to keep from adding anything more cutting. She needed Pluto's cooperation, after all.

"I choose to make it so," Pluto replied. "My destiny is one I have accepted, and work towards, because I know it will be for the best. But do you really want to revisit this old argument?"

"There's no point, is there? You've made up your mind, and I know what my truth is." There was only one dumpling left, and Yuuko gestured that Pluto should take it, as the guest.

Pluto, who was irritating and just plain unlikeable, couldn't be accused of being a poor guest. She neatly picked it up, and popped it in her mouth. "Tell your servant he's an excellent cook," she replied, before using a linen napkin to wipe her mouth. "Now do you want to tell me why I should grant your request to play with the timestream?"

Yuuko hated, hated, hated being a supplicant to this woman. "The man's request does not interfere with the formation of your precious future, does it?"

"You, more than anyone else, should know that every life has the potential to change the course of the future, Yuuko-san. The woman died at her appointed time – bringing her back to life is taboo."

"You, more than anyone else, should know I'm not requesting such a thing," Yuuko replied, echoing Pluto's own words. "I'm asking you to prevent something horrible from happening. "

"Semantics," Pluto replied.

Their red eyes met, clashing, and they sat for long minutes, waiting for the other to yield. But both were amazingly patient women, and neither was willing to back down. After ten minutes passed by, Yuuko finally grew exasperated. Somewhere right now there were several versions of Pluto, all within the same timeline, and she could afford to wait until the house fell down on top of them.

"Do you want me to do it myself?" Yuuko asked, letting the white of her teeth flash.

Pluto's right hand automatically went to her staff, and her breathing quickened slightly. "That would be foolhardy, Yuuko-san."

"It wouldn't be the first time we've disagreed. I would hate to inadvertently undo centuries of your hard work with my less-skilled maneuvering, though." She spoke levelly, keeping the slightest whiff of threat out of her words. It would not do to cross that line and become Pluto's enemy; it was one thing not to like each other, but to declare all-out war would wreak havoc across the multiverse. Checks and balances must be maintained, Yuuko knew.

"It wouldn't be the first time I had to clean up after your mistakes."

Yuuko shut her eyes, not wanting to think about what Pluto was referring to. That part of her life was gone, vanished into the past like a half-remembered dream. She had not always been the Dimension Witch, but remembering those times only made her nostalgic. "You're not perfect, either," Yuuko replied. "All I need to do is look to the moon to remember that."

Pluto's fingers twitched, and Yuuko forced herself not to flinch. Sometimes she wondered if her fated death involved being hit over the head by Pluto's timestaff.

Then Pluto shut her red eyes, and Yuuko wondered what she was thinking. After a deep breath, she raised her long eyelashes, intent carefully masked from Yuuko's inspection. "There is a price to be paid," Pluto said, her voice echoing strangely in the room, like it was coming from the end of a very long tunnel. "What can you give that I want?"

"I'll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine," Yuuko answered. She shifted her legs so her weight was resting on her right thigh as she propped herself up with a hand. Her slouch was a deliberate contrast to Pluto's perfect posture.

"You've offered that price before." Pluto' gaze didn't waver, and her soft-spoken manner was more commanding than any kind of posturing could have been.

"It still holds the same value, Pluto-chan."

Pluto sighed, but nodded her acquiescence. Using her staff, she raised herself to her feet, looking down on Yuuko's recumbent form. "I'll take care of it, but I wish you would stop doing this," she replied.

"For the right price, I might," Yuuko said, feeling the tension in stomach relax as she recognized Pluto's impending departure. She refrained from letting any of her satisfaction show, not wanting to break the bargain before it was carried out.

"You're a very literal woman." Pluto smoothed her hand over her short skirt, brushing away imaginary crumbs. "And I'm not a woman who would bring my real Wish to this shop."

"Some might say you're wiser than most."

"Some might. Others would call me foolish," Pluto said. "You and I both know differently."

Yuuko turned her head away, not willing to argue with one who had already made up her mind. When she looked back, Pluto was gone, vanished just as suddenly as she had arrived.

Yuuko looked down at the remains of their meal, the only sign that she hadn't imagined the whole encounter. She rose to her feet, leaving the mess for Watanuki to clean up tomorrow.

She had known how this encounter would end. Pluto would have already done her research before arriving, and would only have shown up if she intended on giving Yuuko what she wanted. But she had come for the discussion, whether out of principle or stubbornness, Yuuko couldn't know. Probably both.

Though many would have automatically deferred to Sailor Pluto's wisdom, Yuuko would never show any deference. Better than anyone, she knew what happened when a senshi was given unbridled authority. To completely sever the bond of fate and choices past – what was, what is, and what will be – was nearly an impossible Wish. She, for one, wasn't willing to pay that price.

Pluto might have a different opinion, but then again Meiou Setsuna was a rather single minded soul.

Yuuko stepped out onto the porch to look up at the sky, though she needed no reinforcement of her conviction. There, out among the heavens, was an asteroid belt that had once been a planet hosting one of the greatest of civilizations. Despite all the time that had passed, Yuuko could still see the phantom planet hanging above her head, reassuring in its power.

Then she shook her head, discarding her wistfulness as useless. Turning around, she went back inside to prepare for tomorrow's clients, and Watanuki's next lesson. There was a future out there, and she still had people she wanted to protect.


End file.
